Marc Chagall (1887-1985, Vitebsk, Belarus, Saint-Paul de Vence, France) expresses various aspects of Judaism in his painting The Falling Angel created between the years of 1923-1947. At the bottom left of the painting he incorporates a bearded Jewish man with a hat holding onto a Torah scroll whose scribbled words are illegible. Though the words are not readable, it is still a modern concept to combine language and literature into paintings. Interestingly, he is looking back toward the angel falling, along with Jesus’ “falling” or death. It seems as if he’s trying to distance himself from those events. Perhaps he’s fleeing from the torment and destruction that is going on. This could be representative of Jewish life at that time or in the shtetl. The Jews could have fallen on hard times, and he just wants to run away from the all-encompassing bad life. To the right is a woman holding a baby in her arms, which is somewhat reminiscent of Yocheved holding Moshe as a baby, or perhaps Madonna and baby Jesus. Beside that there is a candlestick, which looks very much like Shabbos candlesticks. What’s interesting to note is the size of the candlestick in relation to the surrounding environment. Typically in paintings size and location are key elements in signifying power and a focal point. The hieratic scale can be implemented here with the candlestick to perhaps show that the flame was still burning for Judaism, and Judaism will withstand the anti-Semitic sentiments of the time.One of the most taking sights in this painting is of Jesus’ crucifixion. It seems like he’s wearing a tallit as he was in another Chagall painting, a sign that could be taken two ways. One way in which to address that is it’s derogatory toward Jews, almost as if crucifying them along with their religion. However, it could also be seen as Chagall relating his artwork through his own religion. He could feel very connected to his Judaism, and desires to express various times in the Jews’ lives as a nation. The red circle behind Jesus’ head can be viewed as a halo. Jesus’ crucifixion scene is larger than the buildings below him, an implication of the hieratic scale. Perhaps the small town, or shtetl, is just a background for all of the scenes depicted; it’s a place for the story to unravel. This story seems to be various points in history, perhaps Jewish history. The grandfather clock in the top of the painting could be a literal sign for time. The man above the Jew has a sickly green skin, which, as we noted in class, could be seen as greed or an illness. It’s more likely to be a sickness because this painting seems to depict hard times, and he’s bent in half, holding a cane.There’s a goat at the bottom of the painting, something that seems to pop up a lot in Chagall’s work. This could relate to small towns or villages, kind of like The Fiddler on the Roof because of the goat and the violin. This could be representative of shtetl life. The main focus of this painting would be the falling angel. The angel is a very vibrant red, which helps attract the eye, and the domineering size attests to importance. We typically don’t think of angels falling from Heaven, but this could be a symbol of wrongdoing, or bad things to come. This could be a bad sign of Jewish life, and how anti-Semitism negatively reflected on the Jews.